‘The Heat’ potty-mouth ‘comedy’

Bryant Manning is an English instructor at Frank Phillips College

Published 12:04 pm, Friday, July 5, 2013

Melissa McCarthy isn’t a household name—yet, that is—but the recognizable baby-faced dynamo is fast becoming the Queen of Crass Comediennes in Hollywood. From her roles in the sitcom “Mike and Molly” and the hilariously crude “Bridesmaids,” McCarthy may never be a hotter comic commodity than right now.

Still, this past February, McCarthy (“Identity Theft”) found herself lavished with unwanted attention when long-time cantankerous critic Rex Reed called her a “female hippo” who has “devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.” (He also calls her “tractor sized” and a “gimmicky comedian,” but you get the idea.) Reed’s needlessly cruel screed provoked a fury of Twitterers rushing to the actress’s defense. After all, no one likes a cheap shot. And yet Reed’s unapologetic assault uncovered a truth about the 42-year-old actress: She isn’t for everyone.

Now playing in theaters, the entertaining action-comedy “The Heat” pairs McCarthy with Sandra Bullock in perhaps her raunchiest role yet. There may be fewer bathroom gags than “Bridesmaids,” but McCarthy has far more screen time, barking expletives nearly every time her mouth opens. She even hurls a watermelon at a black man. “I’m not racist,” she says to his accusation, answering further with a needless and tasteless obscenity.

My friend and I laughed more than not, but the crazy-eyed rants can lose their punch. When McCarthy calms down to deliver measured one-liners (“Get out of my areolas,” she says when Bullock cramps her space), she is at her funniest.

The movie itself is a long overdue female spin on the classic buddy-cop tale. Awkward New York-based FBI agent Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) is up for a big job promotion. At the behest of her boss (Demian Bichir) she is assigned to Boston to sharpen her people skills as she tackles a high-profile drug case. She encroaches on private detective Mullins’ (McCarthy) territory, and neither is pleased. All the odd couple cliches emerge: prim and proper vs. profane, beauty and the beast, good cop vs. bad cop, and so on.

My favorite segments are the colorful portrayals of the Boston working class, especially McCarthy’s dysfunctional family. Tacky Jesus sports posters adorn the walls. Trashy couples sit around the table saying funny things in their northeastern accents like “pawk instead of park.” And everyone’s pissy at McCarthy for having sent her addict brother (Michael Rappaport) to jail. This is good comedy.

In fact, “The Heat” romanticizes the blue-collar credo of ‘street smarts over book smarts’. Men fall over McCarthy, wondering why they never got a second date. Bullock on the other hand is a healthy, attractive, Yale-educated professional, but also needs to filch her neighbor’s cat for affection. Her arrogance is off-putting, but her story is also sympathetic. Growing up a foster child, she fended for herself and now overcompensates for her insecurities. These flaws give her likeability, a wise move from Director Paul Feig.

Less so is “The Heat’s” violence. At some point over the past decade, violence in comedy has taken on a grittier look. Not the kind seen in “Beverly Hills Cop” or even “Rush Hour,” but more like a bleaker episode of “Breaking Bad.” There’s a scene at a Denny’s restaurant where Ashburn helps a choking patron by performing an impromptu tracheotomy with a steak knife. Another gag centers around some slapstick stabbings. If these were funny moments, I wouldn’t have known it since I needed to look the other way.

Last month, McCarthy finally responded to Reed’s review with both tact and compassion. She should have mentioned to Reed that she simply embodies a Hollywood tradition that started with Charlie Chaplin and has continued up through Adam Sandler and others: namely, unique personalities that outshine the script or director. With “The Heat,” McCarthy is the movie; she sells the tickets on her outsize personality. You like her or you don’t. $40 million over opening weekend suggests many people do.

Bryant Manning is an English instructor at Frank Phillip College who is filling in for Pat Tyrer while she takes a break for a professional conference and some vacation time.